III. VERONICA. 81 



but I do not know what ' rotata ' here means, as there is 

 no appearance of revolved action in the petals, so far as 

 I can see. 



17. Of the mythic or poetic significance of the ver- 

 onica, there is less to be said than of its natural beauty. 

 I have not been able to discover with what feeling, or at 

 what time, its sacred name was originally given ; and the 

 legend of S. Veronica herself is, in the substance of it, 

 irrational, and therefore incredible. The meaning of 

 the term i rational,' as applied to a legend or miracle, is, 

 that there has been an intelligible need for the permis- 

 sion of the miracle at the time when it is recorded ; and 

 that the nature and manner of the act itself should be 

 comprehensible in the scope. There was thus quite sim- 

 ple need for Christ to feed the multitudes, and to appear 

 to S. Paul ; but no need, so far as human intelligence 

 can reach, for the reflection of His features upon a piece 

 of linen which could be seen by not one in a million *)f 

 the disciples to whom He might more easily, at any time,- 

 manifest Himself personally and perfectly. Nor, I be- 

 lieve, has the story of S. Veronica ever been asserted to 

 be other than symbolic by the sincere teachers of the 

 Church ; and, even so far as in that merely explanatory 

 function, it became the seal of an extreme sorrow, it is 

 not easy to understand how the pensive fable was asso- 

 ciated with a flower so familiar, so bright, and so popu- 

 larly of good omen, as the Speedwell. 



18. Yet, the fact being actually so, and this consecra- 



